Baby ponies are awesome

Today I rode my little man again, we had a little jumping session, his first time jumping since we went cross country schooling. I wasn't sure how he was going to be, whether he'd carry on as before or if he'd be hesitant since it had been so long since he'd jumped. Well, actually, neither happened.
He was better. He jumped the best he ever has. We didn't do anything big, a small 2'3" cross and we went over it from different angles few times. But he was so brill, so adjustable and would just fly over the jump.
For once in my life I actually felt that I was riding well over jumps, I had good release, I felt like my heels stayed down and my legs straight and I don't think I over folded. I just felt like I was riding him quietly and not interfering with him which was nice to feel as I usually feel like I'm riding badly.
Anyway, we had a lovely ride and can't wait to get out for a hack tomorrow!

Oh hai jump wing

I've not been a bad blogger, I've literally ridden once sine my last blog post, and it was yesterday, so I'm blogging about it now. Been sooo busy at work so sooo sleepy when I get home that yesterday was the first time I felt it would be safe to get up on my horse.
I was on an early shift so I'd been up since 5 but I knew I needed to ride because I'd not ridden for 8 days and Sunny was about to forget what his saddle was for.
I brought him down to the yard and he stood beautifully while I groomed him and tacked him up which I was surprised by after quite a long time off. Decided to take him down the field as I was too tired to really focus on attempting to school properly so it wouldn't have been fair to him. Mounted up and headed out the gate. He was fine in the bottom field but as we got further away from the house he started snorting and feeling really fresh. We kept to a walk for quite a long time to try and calm him down, he pretended to spook at the gate to the hay field once, not sure why but maybe there was a pony eating invisible monster behind it. Or maybe he wasn't in the mood to work. I'm going with the second option. So once he felt sort of calm in walk I had a little trot around, he's always pretty good in trot, never tries to go into canter without being asked, he can just get really bouncy if he's on his toes as he sort of springs about. Looks pretty but not to easy to ride lol. Had a trot on both reins and then had a canter. Perfect on the right rein, not rushing or bucking at all. Bucked into it on the left rein then rushed and tried to run off, but came back to me quickly when he realised I meant business. We tried it a few times on the left rein until I got a nice calm canter and then called it a day for canter, ending it on a good note. J had come down the field and had been watching us after checking on her horses so we strolled back down to the yard with her and I got him all untacked and back out to his field. For a 5 year old who'd not been worked in 8 days I really can't complain about how he was, he's such a sweet pony and I'm very lucky with him.
No pictures from yesterday but here are some from wednesday when he had a little nap on mummy's knee ;)

After I'd turned Sunny back out I met up with Beth at her house. We went to fetch some jumps she'd bought then went up to her yard. She's moved her ponies to a private yard and it's lovely :) Jack, Sparkie and Carling seem really happy :)
We rode Sparkie, Beth rode first and they were fab, as usual, such an amazing pair. She jumped him up to 3'. Then I was my turn, I hopped on and had a little ride around before attempting the jumps, took him over all three and Beth asked if I wanted her to film, so I said yes because I've never really jumped a course, I've done a mini one with Sunny at trot but this was at canter so it was new for me :)
So I take him around again, jump 1 lovely, jump 2 fab, jump 3. No. Sparkie says no. Oh hi there jump wing, come to the floor with me and let's hang. Haha, it was a hilarious fall not going to lie, and Beth got it on camera! The photos aren't on facebook yet so I'll post them when they are but I snapped a photo from the video with my phone so I'll add that for a good giggle :)

I got back on after and jumped him again and he was great. Gotta love SparkiePony.

"He's all kinds of co-ordinated now"

That was a quote from the yard owner today as I was tacking Sunny up, it pretty much covers it I think. Brought him in and he was very snuggly while I was grooming him, then got him all tacked up, he wore his new polo wraps that he got for his birthday and looks gorgeous :)
We had a session of flatwork, mostly sticking to walk and working on bending and working into contact. He did amazingly, stuggled somewhat but worked through it and really tried for me. Then had a little trot and canter to let him stretch out and he was brill. When we'd schooled for a while I hacked him down the field before bringing him back in to cool off. He was brill with opening the gate both away from him on the way out and towards him in the way back :)

When I got home his last birthday present had arrived!

Hacking just got a whole lot more awesome! Can't wait to use this baby!

Too hot for tack

Being on nights since thursday has meant that pony hasn't been worked since wednesday, which he was perfectly happy with ;) But I finished my last night shift this morning so after a couple of hours sleep I headed up to the yard to spend some good quality time with him. Brought him in from the field (he's out full time now, yay!) and spent a good long time giving him a nice groom. It was really hot today and I didn't want to have to make him wear a saddle or put on my tall boots, so I wore my jod boots and just put his bridle on for a bareback session. He was really good, much smoother than he's been recently bareback, had a couple of naps at the gate which was educational for me to sit but overall he was really good. A good half hour session in walk/trot/canter and he was getting really warm, I hate to think how sweaty he would have been in tack. 

Canter to trot transitions bareback kill me, I suck at them!

I decided rather than bringing him back around to the yard to take his bridle off I'd just ride him back down to his field and take it off when we got there. He was a little slow to get the gate openeing today but we got there and then strolled down the field to his section. 

When I took his bridle off he went for a good roll and let me pet his head while he was rolling which was adorable, then he had a drink and we just snuggled for a little while. At one point while I was petting his ears he put his head between my legs and lifted it up and I actually came off the floor! It was hilarious, he's such a funny pony! Then I just emptied, cleaned and refilled his water buckets, did some poo picking, had one last cuddle and left him to hang out like the independent big boy he seems to have become all of a sudden. He's not pining for Bella or yelling to the other horses at all, it's not at all how I expected him to be but I'm very proud of him!

Happy birthday Sundance!

Today my gorgeous little ball of ginger love is a 5 year old! So instead of adding these pictures to the post they belong with I'm going to put them here to fill this post with some cuteness :)

I'll end this post with a comment Beth made the other day which I thought was super cute, and a little video of my special 5 year old.

"It's kind of hard not to be happy with Sunny...he just spreads happiness, 

like one big happy ginger fluff"

Working that neck

Sunny seems to have settled well with the idea that Bella is gone, K went out to check on him late last night before she went to bed and she said he wasn't circling or stressing, and when I turned him out this morning he went straight to graze without looking for her. I think the fact that he saw her get on the trailer and leave helped him come to terms with the fact that she's gone, that she's just gone somewhere else and nothing bad has happened to her. If she'd just been taken from the field and he'd never seen her again he might have reacted differently, we'll never know, but I'm glad he's coping well on his own.
Had a short ride on him today, we were working on flexion in the neck and bending away from the leg. His right rein is absolutely fantastic but when turning tight on the left rein he sort of falls in rather than bending. But that's to be expected as it's his stiffer side. We only did a short 20 minute ride as he was working really hard and spent 15 minutes of that time working into the contact, pulling his hind end under and stretching his back up, little guy was sweating and grunting but he didn't try to pull his head up, just kept stretching it down into the contact which was beautiful. Obviously I can't expect him to work 'in an outline' consistently right now as those muscles need a lot more work to build up to being able to handle it, but the fact that he's willing and will happily try so hard right now is a good start. He went fantastically today and I was so proud of him. Sponged him off after and when I took him back out to the field we did some stretches on his left side to work it back into being nice and supple.

Goodbye Bella

Today Bella went to live with her new family. They tried her out on Saturday night and fell in love with her immediately. She's gone home with them this evening and seems to have settled in well from the comments and picture on her new owner's facebook page. We're going to keep in touch and they'll keep me up to date with her. It was so sad to see her go but I'm glad she's found a fantastic family. It's too hard to sit here and type much more than that, so this post will be a photo and video homage to our lovely Bella, no order, just the order they pop up in. We love you Bella, thank you for being in our lives.